Amazon Holiday Toy List Slots Can Cost Brands Up to $2 Million by Spencer Soper & Matthew Townsend at Bloomberg. “It’s perfectly legal for Amazon to sell advertising on its site. It becomes a problem when the world’s largest online retailer tells shoppers recommendations are curated by experts but doesn’t disclose the money it gets from the toy industry, said Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.”Tiered subs.

Barneys enters deal to sell assets to Authentic Brands, B. Riley for $271 million cash at Reuters. “Any further bids must be received before a deadline on Oct. 22, according to the filing. In the absence of further bids by the deadline, the company will go ahead with the deal with Authentic Brands and B. Riley.”Read more

Walmart and Mattel Lease ‘Floors’ in a Virtual Toy Store Run on Interactive Video by Sahil Patel at Wall Street Journal. “In Walmart’s Toy Lab, for example, users can examine, test and watch children (played by actors) play with 40 different toys including a transforming Batmobile and a Star Wars lightsaber. On Mattel’s Barbie DreamFloor, users can help Barbie create her own video blog—or “vlog” in web parlance—while browsing products such as a Barbie house or space shuttle.”WSJ subs.

Best Buy relaxes dress code to allow workers in blue shirts to wear jeans by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. “They also no longer have to tuck in their shirts and can wear any color shoe (as long as they’re not flip-flops or sandals) instead of having to only wear black shoes.”Tiered subs.

NRF: Retail sales in September were down 0.1 percent seasonally adjusted from August but up 4.5 percent unadjusted year-over-yearPress release

Did a Muslim Slave Make Your Chinese Shirt? by Jianli Yang & Lianchao Han at Wall Street Journal. “The forced-labor economy appears designed to meet two goals: earn money for the state and politically “stabilize” Xinjiang through economic performance to legitimize Communist rule over the region. Inmates in Xinjiang prisons serve as a key labor force in the cotton value chain, from cotton-field reclamation and construction of irrigation systems to planting, harvesting, processing and garment production.”WSJ subs.

Alibaba Group thwarts 300 million hack attempts per day, founder Jack Ma says at CNBC.Read more

Amazon dumps $1 million into Seattle elections by Reid Wilson at The Hill. “This year, three incumbents are running for re-election, including one, Kshama Sawant, who voted against repealing the ($275-per-employee) tax. Four open seat races are being fought between two candidates who won the most votes in the August 6 election.”Read more

Kroger workers say firings and job changes have sparked fear and ‘chaos’ in some stores by Hayley Peterson at Business Insider.Read more

Lowe’s Canada says there is no plan to transfer 200 IT jobs from Longueuil to Bangalore, IndiaPress release

Patagonia founder talks about the sustainability myth and the problem with Amazon by Jeff Beer at Fast Company. “I’m an avowed socialist. I’m proud of it. That was a dirty word just a few years ago until Bernie Sanders brought it up. It was equated with communism and that whole thing. Yet the countries around the world that are most squared away are all socialistic countries like those in Scandinavia.”Read more

Tipsheet Extra

Inside James Dyson’s costly decision to kill his electric car

Shoe companies Rothy’s and Steve Madden are at each other’s throats

Hollywood Reporter: The 100 most powerful people in entertainment 2019